Collecting sheet for albums,scrapbooks and the like



March 31, 1970 w. HERMANN COLLECTING SHEET FOR ALBUMS, SCRAPBOOKS AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 2'7, 1966 Fig. 2

Werner Hermann I INVENTOR.

BY' TR, I

March 31, 1970 w. HERMANN 3,503,335

COLLECTING SHEET FOR ALBUMS, SGRAPBOQKS AND THE LIKE 2 SheeiS-Shegt 2 Filed June 27, 19665 Werner Hermann Fig.5

Fig. 6

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

INVENTOR.

United States Patent 0.

3,503,835 COLLECTING SHEET FOR ALBUMS, SCRAPBOOKS AND THE LIKE Werner Hermann, Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany, as-

signor to Firma Heinrich Hermann, Stuttgart-Wangen, Germany, a German corporation Filed June 27, 1966, Ser. No. 560,540 Claims priority, application Germany, June 26, 1965, H 56,419 Int. Cl. B32b 3/14 US. Cl. 16138 5 "Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A collecting sheet for albums, scrapbooks and the like in which a support sheet is provided with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive in an array of strips with adhesive-free narrow strips between them. A frame surrounds the window of the sheet through which the adhesive can be exposed and is connected to a plurality of strips of masking material by readily rupturable webs. Narrow webs also connect the sections together. The junctions between two edges lies along a median line of the adhesive-free strip to facilitate removal of the latter.

My present invention relates to a collecting page adapted to be inserted into or constitute part of a stack of such pages in an album, scrapbook or a like accumulation; more particularly, the present invention relates to a collecting leaf or card of the character described upon which individual sheet-like specimens can be mounted for storage or subsequent attention.

Loose-leaf collecting pages have been employed heretofore in collecting albums of all types as well as in scrapbooks and other stacks of such sheets upon which these specimens are mounted; similar collecting sheets may be stacked in the form of cards. The specimens may be clippings from newspapers or other periodicals, articles, letters, photographs, stamps, coins, and other generally fiat specimens whose surface area is only a fraction of the field of the leaf upon which the specimen is to be mounted. Such a plurality of such specimens may be applied to the sheet in a regular or irregular pattern. In general, some auxiliary means is required to ailix the specimen to the leaf. In stamp collecting, for example, it is the practice to employ adhesive hinges which, after being affixed to the back of the stamp, are folded and applied to the collecting sheet. Photographs are commonly mounted in a similar manner or via so-called corners which are adhesively secured to the sheet and form pockets receiving the corners of the specimens. In other mounting arrangements, rubber cement or other adhesive material is applied to the reverse surface of the specimen which is then pressed against the leaf. Moreover, the leaves may be mounted in a binder, may be removable or permanently afiixed to a support, incorporated loosely in a portfolio or stack, or sold separately as refill leaves for scrapbooks, stamp albums, and the like.

It will be understood that a substantial difficulty involved in-dealing with album and scrapbook pages is that an auxiliary adhesive means as described above is required to aflix the specimen to the leaf. If the item is too small to be handled easily, it becomes difficult to apply the adhesive member or surface to the specimen and, moreover, conventional methods of applying cement, glues, or other adhesive materials to the specimen have a tendency to damage the latter. Still another disadvatnage resides in the fact that, when the adhesive means is applied to the leaf, the specimen must be positioned at a corresponding location and cannot be moved without substantial diificulty. The versatility of the leaf is thus markedly limited.

3,503,835 Patented Mar. 31, 1970 It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved collecting leaf for incorporation in albums, scrapbooks, portfolios and the like having substantially greater versatility than prior leaves of this general type and capable of retaining the items or specimens to be mounted without auxiliary means as has hitherto been necessary.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a collecting page of the general character described upon which specimens of substantially any size and configuration can be mounted with security and without intricate requirements with respect to the application of mounting means to the specimens themselves.

A further object of my invention is to provide a collecting page of the character described on which items can be mounted at various locations without special advance preparation of the sheet and in such manner as to be fully secured thereto.

I have now found that these results can be surprisingly attained in a collecting sheet, page or leaf which is provided at least along one of its broad surfaces with a layer of a live pressure-sensitive adhesive of the type commonly used in surgical adhesive tapes and in Scotchlike tape. Such live adhesives remain tacky and gummy for prolonged periods and, in fact, require no action other than pressure against the element to be mounted or attached thereto. Such adhesive layers are commonly provided with masking or protective strips which, after the length of pressure-sensitive tape has been cut to the desired size, are stripped from the tape to expose the live-adhesive and pressure-sensitive surface. The tape is then applied to any surface as required. Such tapes have been used in photographic albums, stamp albums and the like since the foil carrying the adhesive layer can be made transparent or translucent so as to permit viewing of the item or specimen through the tape. I have found that some of the advantages of such tapes can be exploited in a surprising manner when a pressurized and sensitive adhesive of this character is applied generally to the broad surface of a scrapbook or album leaf or page. As the adhesive layer is covered by a multiplicity of masking-foil sections disposed in contiguous relationship, the entire surface of the sheet is protected against contact with the adhesive. This ensures that the sheets can be stacked prior to use or incorporated in prebound albums and can be employed as loose-leaf sheets removably receivable in an independent binder. The protective strip or tab, in accordance with the present invention, is provided with a coating along its side contacting the adhesive layer which does not adhere well to the adhesive so that the latter can be readily uncovered upon stripping of the individual masking foil from the adhesive. Thus, a principal feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a multiplicity of contiguous masking-foil sections which normally cover the entire adhesive surface of the leaf so as to prevent any portion of the adhesive from being exposed unless some or all of the masking foils are removed, the foils being strippable from the adhesive layer to expose selected regions of the adhesive. In this manner, the number of adhesive zones exposed can be readily selected by merely choosing the appropriate masking foils to remove and the specimen or item to be mounted may then be applied by pressure against these exposed adhesive zones. Since the pressure-sensitive adhesive readily adheres to the item or specimen urged thereagainst, the item will be held in place without the need for any auxiliary means. In general, the exposed adhesive zones will lie within the outlines of the item or specimens to be mounted and may, if the item is relatively large, include substantially all of the area within these outlines. When lightweight items are to be mounted, it is also advantageous merelyto expose aplurality of adhesive zones engageable with the item along its marginal portions. The latter arrangement permits removal of the specimen for remounting. it. atanother location or for some other purpose.

According to a further feature of this invention, the adhesive surface or field of the collecting leaf or page is surrounded by a closed peripheral frame along the marginal portions of the rectangular leaf designed to reinforce the latter. The'reinfoncing frame itself may be affixed to the support sheet or substrate of the leaf by a pressure-sensitive adhesive. It has been found that best results are obtained when the adhesive face of the sheet is subdivided into a plurality of mutually parallel rows (parallel to one of the sides of the leaf) from which the masking foil can be stripped to expose the corresponding rows of adhesive. When mutually orthogonal adhesive rows are desired, the rows can have the same width in both the vertical and horizontal directions whereupon the masking foil can be constituted as square tabs individually removable. Each tab will lie at the intersection of a vertical and a horizontal adhesive row. The tabs thus represent a multiplicity of points at which the specimens can be attached to the sheet. An important aspect of this invention resides in the provision of adhesive-free strips between the longitudinally extending rows of adhesive, the parting line between a pair of contiguous masking foils of adjoining rows lying substantially midway across this gap in the adhesive. In this manner, marginal portions of the adhesive foil extend beyond the respective adhesive zones to overlie nonadhesive zones at which the masking foil can be gripped by the user and removed without difficulty.

Accordingly to a further feature of the present invention, the leaf is reinforced by laminating it with a similar leaf whose outer surface is provided with an adhesive completely covered by a multiplicity of individually removable masking foils. The leaves can be joined by glueing them in back-to-back relationship directly or via interposition of a support layer of paper or other sheet material. Such a collecting leaf may be constituted further as a card reinforced by a suitable holder or mounted upon a stiffening layer of cardboard. In either case, the reverse side of the leaf may have a masked adhesive surface of the character described. The outer surface of the masking foil is advantageously designed so as to be receptive to legible matter written or printed thereon so that, for example, legends can be applied to the still-covered portions of the adhesive to describe subject matter pertinent to the specimens mounted upon the exposed portion of the adhesive. The masking foil thus may be constituted as ordinary writing paper to which shellac or another anti-adhesion film has been applied to facilitate removal of the masking foil from the adhesive.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an album page in accordance with the present invention;

' FIG. 2 is a similar view of a collecting as an index card;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged and somewhat diagrammatic cross-sectional view through a portion of the collection leaf formed "leaves of FIG. 1 or 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view through a modified collecting leaf;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view through a collecting leaf provided with a backing layer; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view through a leaf having a backing layer to which two collecting sheets are applied in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

From FIG. 3, it will be seen that a collecting leaf or ...,S.heet, accordingto the present .invention comprises three layers including a substrate 8 of paper (e.g. writing paper) to which a thin layer of a pressure-sensitive adhesive 6 is applied in conventional manner. Upon the adhesive layer 6, I place a masking foil represented generally at 1. The masking foil 1 can be stripped from the adhesive layer 6 as represented by dot-dash lines in FIG. 3 to expose the adhesive layer anl to permit it to receive stamps, photographs, cards or other specimens which are applied to the leaf 10 (after removal of the masking foil in the attachment regions) with finger pressure so that the specimens adhere to the adhesive layer 6 and thus to the substrate 8. The masking foil 1 is provided along its underside 1 with a layer or coating (e.g., a lacquer) resistant to adhesion to the adhesive 6 thereby facilitating removal of the foil 1 without entraining the adhesive away from the substrate 8. The exposed surface 1" may be that of Writing paper or other material receptive to legible matter which may be applied by imprinting or by writing thereon with pencil, pen, quick-dry marker, crayon or the like.

The leaf itself, as illustrated in FIG. 1, is provided with a closed peripheral frame 2 which extends along all of the marginal portion of the rectangular leaf and forms a frame for the field of adhesive 6 upon which the specimens may be mounted. The frame 2 can be composed of cardboard or paper and may be applied to the substrate 8 with the same adhesive or an adhesive of a different type as will become apparent hereinafter.

The masking foil 1 is, as also seen from FIG. 1 subdivided into a large number of sections 3 which can be individually stripped from respective Zones of the adhesive to expose these zones (e.g. at 6a) to provide regions of adhesion of the specimens to the substrate. The sections 3 of the masking foil 1 have square outlines and are contiguous along all ,of their sides with either the frame 2 or with adjacent foil sections. Furthermore, the square outline of the adhesive region 6a revealed by removal of the foil section 3 are arranged in mutually orthogonal rows parallel to one another and to the sides of the rectangular leaf 10. The adhesive zone 6a can be exposed at the corners of a photograph or other rectangular specimen to be mounted so that the entire surface of the specimen does not engage the adhesive and the specimen can be removed from the sheet Without damage at a subsequent date.

In the system of FIG. 2, sheet 10a is provided with a substrate 8, an adhesive layer 6 and a foil which are in superposed relationship as illustrated in FIG. 3. Here, however, the foil is subdivided into a plurality of horizontal strips 4 which are laterally contiguous and extend along the full width of the sheets. These strips can be individually removed to expose adhesive sectionsrunning the full width of the sheet as represented at 6b. Here too, the underside of the foil is provided at 1' with a lacquer layer resistant to adhesion to the pressure-sensitive adhesive while the upper surfaces 1" of the foil sections 4 are receptive to legible matter in the manner previously described.

In both sheets (10 and 10a), the frame 2 can be mounted upon the substrate 8 by providing zones extending inwardly from the upper and lower edges of the frame to the broken line 5 free of the adhesive-resist lacquers. Thus the frames 2 will be held onto the substrate 8 with greater force than the foil sections 3 and 4. The frames also constitute protective marginal portions for the edges of the collecting sheets.

According to an important feature of this invention, the removal of the foil 3 and '4 is facilitating by applying the adhesive 6 in strips extending along the full width of the sheet 10 and 10a with transverse spacing to leave zones 7 free of adhesive, these Zones being overlapped by edge portions 6c of the foil section 3 or 4. Advantageously, the overlapping portions of the foil sections extend into contiguous contact so that parting edges between them (e.g. at 6d) lie along the center of the respective adhesive-free strip 7. Thus one is able to engage with ones fingers or fingernails the flap of any section 3 overlying an adhesive-free strip and lift this foil section from the corresponding zone of adhesive. Similar adhesive-free strips can be provided between rows 6b of adhesive in the system of FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG. 2 butin accordance with the principle of this invention applicable also to the system of FIG. 1, the adjoining sections 3 or 4 of the masking foils may be provided with webs of paper or other material from which the foil is made with these webs bridging the adjoining foil sections as indicated at 6e in somewhat exaggerated form. These webs 6e extend across the parting lines and provide a mechanical bridge between the sections and between the sections and the frame which can be easily broken upon the intentional removal of an individual foil section. In this manner the undesired sloughing of one or foil sections during normal or abnormal handling of the sheet is avoided. Similarly, the sections may be subdivided into lattice arrangements which may be removed as a unit to expose a lattice-like array of adhesive zones. The webs 6a can be formed merely by subdividing the cutting arrangement forming the individual sections into a plurality of blades with gaps therebetween.

In FIG. 4, I show a modified collecting sheet wherein a pair of substrates 8 of the type illustrated in FIG. 3 and provided sectioned masking strips as illustrated either in FIG. 1 or in FIG. 2 are cemented in back to back relationship. It will be understood, however, that only a single substrate layer 8 need be provided, in which case the system of FIG. 3 would be supplemented by a further layer 6 of adhesive on the right-hand side of the substrate 8 and would carry a corresponding array of masking foil sections. In FIGS. 5 and 6, I show various forms of index cards employing the principles of the present invention. A double-weight paper, oak-tag or :ardboard backing sheet is provided with the paper substrate 8, the adhesive layer 6 and the sectioned masking foil 1 in the manner previously described. The substrate 8 can be attached to the carboard backing sheet 9 by glueing or any other conventional method. An index card of this type can be provided with any specimens (e.g. stamps or the like) in the manner previously described merely by stripping corresponding foil sections and exposing the adhesive. The application of legible subject matter to the index card (e.g. to identify the specimens) shall proceed in a normal manner since the masking foil is receptive to typewritten or handwritten information. Another index card arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 6 in which the backing sheet 9 receives a pair of adhesive layers each having a respective substrate 8 which is glued on a respective side of the backing sheet 9. In general, I found to be advantageous to use a clear white masking foil so that it can contrast with any legible matter applied thereto.

I claim:

1. A collecting leaf for assembly in a collection stack, comprising:

a rectangular sheet-like substrate;

a layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive overlying a substantial portion of said substrate and extending to at least two opposite edges of said substrate; a masking foil having a coating temporarily adherent to but readily strippable from said adhesive and covering same, said masking foil being uniformly subdivided into a multiplicity of discrete longitudinally extending individually removable foil sections of equal width and adapted upon removal to expose respective zones of said adhesive; and

a frame unitary with said foil extending along the periphery of said substrate and surrounding said masking foil while being provided with at least a pair of opposite marginal zones free from said coating whereby said frame adheres to said adhesive with greater adhesion than that of said foil sections to said adhesive, each of said longitudinally extending sections stretching between a pair of opposite arms of said frame, said sections being connected with adjoining sections and with said frame by readily rupturable webs of said foil, said adhesive running in longitudinally extending strips of equal width along said substrate beneath respective foil sections and having a width less than that of the respective section to define narrow adhesive-free Zones between the adhesive strips, said foil sections covering said adhesive strips extending in transversely contiguous relationship therebeyond to overlie said adhesive-free zones and substantially completely cover same from opposite sides while defining parting lines between adjoining foil sections along said zones located substantially midway thereacross.

2. A collecting leaf as defined in claim 1 wherein said substrate has a similar layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive and masking foil thereon provided upon another face in addition to the first-mentioned layer of adhesive and foil.

3. A collecting leaf as defined in claim 1 further comprising a support sheet bonded to said substrate for stiffening same.

4. A collecting leaf as defined in claim 3 wherein a further substrate, adhesive layer and masking foil are mounted upon a further surface of said sheet.

5. A collecting leaf as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said sections is subdivided into a multiplicity of squares whereby the squares of said sections extend in two mutually intersecting orthogonal arrays of horizontal and vertical rows.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,636,297 4/1953 Johnson 161406 2,876,575 3/1959 Leika 156-248 3,315,374 4/1967 Geraty 3526 140,245 6/1873 Clemens 4015 8 X 1,549,3 89' 8/1925 Simon 129-20 3,002,309 5/ 1959 Snyder 156-63 3,381,402 5/1968 Ohfuji 129-20 X FOREIGN PATENTS 697,622 11/ 1964 Canada.

ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner R. L. MAY, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

